Valve mechanism for internal-combustion engines



1. M. WILLIAMS, JR-

VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE17, 1919.

1&3537? Patented Nov, I M, 1922.

. 4 SHEETS3HEE] l- I Z2 Z1 4 a; 46 4; $50 47 Y m Qwvewtoz I v v J. M.WILLIAMS, In. VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

' APPLICATION FILED JUNE I7, 1919.

Patented. Nov. 14, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEEI 2..

J. WILLIAMS, JR. VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FIL ED JUNE 17, I919.

Patented Nov. M, 1922.

4 SHEETSSHEE'I 3.

I. M. WILLIAMS, JR. VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES,

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I7, 1919.

1,485,??? 9 Patented; Nov. 14, 1922.

4 SHEETSSHEE1 4.

Patented Nov. M, eae.

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JOHN MAXWELL WILLIAMS, It,

OF GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

- Application filed June 17,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MAXWELL VVIL- LIAMS, J r., a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valve Mechanism forInternal-Combustion Engines, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to a valve mechanism for use in connection withinternal combustion engines, its object beingto provide such a mechanismthat is simple in construction, is formed of few parts and these easilymanufactured and assembled and in which it is not necessary to employsprings for holding the. valves in place. The valve device for eachcylinder of the engine controls the admission of the fuel charges andthe discharge ofthe exhaust gases, and comprises a piston and a sleeve,these being operated, as will be described, to efiect the desiredcommunications and cut-oifs between the cylinder of the engine and itscombustion chamber on the one hand, and the inlet and exhaust ports onthe other. When the invention is applied to a multicylinder engine theparts of the several valves are so coupled together that those of themwhich move in synchronism may be driven from a single moving part of theengine. The sleeve elements of the several valves, which owing to theirshape and construction are the parts of the valve most liable to thedestructive action of heat and of exhaust gases when directly exposedthereto as when the gases exhaust through the center of a valve sleeve,are

so mounted as to be little exposed to the direct action of the exhaustgases. These and other objects and advantages ofthe invention will bepointed out as the apparatus is described.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated my invention as appliedto a four-cylinder, four-cycle internal combustion engine, without,however, intending to limit the invention in its useful applications toan engine of this particular arrangement, for it will be apparent thatmy valve mechanism may be applied to an engine having but one cylinder,or to multicylinder engines having more or less than four cylinders' Insuch drawings Fig. 1 is a longitudinal central section of the engine.-Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line II, II ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the valvemecha- 1919. Serial No. 304,776.

nism and the head and upper part of one of the cylinders of the enginedrawn on a larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a transversesectional view taken on the line IV, IV of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a viewillustrating the application of the invention to a six-cylinder engine.Fig. 6 is a view, partly n section and partly in elevation, furtherlllustrating the arrangement shown in Fig. 5. The last two views arelargely diagrammat1c in character. Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional viewon the line VII-VII of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a vertical section through thehead of a single engine cylinder illustrating an embodiment of myinvention different from that shown, in the other views. Fig. 8

is a side view of*the adjusting means illustrated in Fig. 7

Referring to the drawings 3, 3 designate the water- ,cooled cylinderswhich are arranged in line with each other as is usual, belng'fo'rmed enbloc, or individually, as may be desired. The pistons 41; work in thecylinders and are connected by rods 5 with the crank shaft 6 of the enine, which is housed within the crank case To designate the differentcylinders of the engine they are numbered I, II, III, IV, be ginning atthe right, these numbers being placed within circles upon the drawings,but in this specification identification is by the said numbers only.

Each cylinder has a removable head, which may be individual, 'orintegral with the heads of the other cylinders, and in which is locatedthe combustion chamber 8 where the fuel charges are fired by means of aspark plug 9. 10 indicates the inlet port and. 11 the exhaust port, thepipes leading away from such ports being not shown in the drawings sincethey form no essential'part of the present invention. The cylinder headis formed with a stationary sleeve 12, preferably integral therewith;and in a multiple cylinder engine these slevees are preferably in linewith each other. Through each sleeve is formed a port 15,- or an annularseries of such ports.

Working in each cylinder 12 is a piston 13, the inner end of which, thatis the end toward the combustion chamber 8 and constituting in effectpart of the wall of such chamber, is arranged to be flush with or toconform approximately to the inner peripheral contour of the wall of thecombustion chamber when the piston is at the and channel 10 ment thatthe charge is ignited and until the piston 1 of the engine has begun itswork ing stroke, that is at the time when the pres sure within thecylinder and combustion chamber is the greatest, a feature that is ofdecided advantage in the. operation of the engine. Surrounding thestationary sleeve, and separating it from the inlet and exhaust ports10, 11, and the annular channels 10. 11 communicating respectively withsaid ports, is a cylindrical space in which is mounted a movable valvesleeve 14, through which are formed a series of ports 16 correspondingto and adapted to register with the ports 15 through the stationarysleeve 12. The valve sleeve 14 is so formed that when at and approachingits inner limit of movement the ports 16 constitute communicatingpassages between the intake port 10 and the ports 15 in the stationarysleeve, and when at and approaching its opposite limit of movement ituncovers the exhaust port 11 and channel 11 putting these in directcommunication with the ports 15. When the valve piston 13 is at andapproaching its inner limit of movement it covers and hence closes theports 15 in the stationary sleeve and when at and approaching itsopposite limits of movement it uncovers these ports. These movements ofthe valve pistons and sleeves are clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.-The valve piston 13 is provided with suitable packing rings to havegas-tight contact with the stationary sleeve and preferably one of therings 17 is so located and is suh'iciently wide to entirely cover theports 15 when the piston is at .its inner limit of movement asrepresented at cylinder IV, Figs. 1 and 2. The positions of the valveparts during a cycle in the movements of the engine piston 4: will nowbe stated. At the beginning of the suction movement of the piston, asrepresented at cylinder I the valve piston occupies it's outermostposition, fully uncovering the por ts 15, while the valve sleeve 14 isbegin-' ning its Inward movement and just commencing to put the intakepassages into communication with the combustion chamber through ports 15in order that the fuel charge may be delivered to the combustion chamberand engine cylinder. The end of the suction stroke is represented atcylinder III. The valve sleeve is now putting' the engine cylinder intofull and open communication with the intake, but is about ready to beginlts reverse, that is outer movement.

- exposed to the hot gases of 13 of cylinders I and IV At the same timethe valve piston is rapidly moving inward and is covering the ports 15which are closed during the compression stroke, the end of which isrepresented at cylinder IV. The fuel charge is now fired and the workingstroke of the engine piston takes place moving to the positionrepresented at cylinder II, the valve piston meantime maintaining theports 15 closed. As the engine piston reaches its outward limit ofmovement the valve piston begins to uncover the ports 15 and since it isnow moving at its most rapid rate quickly puts them into fullcommunication with the combustion chamber, permitting the exhaust totake place. During the working stroke of the piston the valve sleeve 14has moved to uncover the ports 15 and the exhaust, so that during theexhaust stroke of the piston there is free communicationbetween theengine cylinder and combustion chamber, and the exhaust ports, throughthe ports 15 in the stationary sleeve, and past the end of the valvesleeve. At the moment the exhaust stroke of the engine piston iscompleted and its suction stroke begins the parts are again in thepositions indicated at cylinder I and the cycle of movements justdescribed is repeated.

It will be seen that the valve sleeve 14: is combustion only at its endand as such gases are being dischargedv and hence, since they areexpanding, when they are materially reduced in temperature. The sleeveisotherwise protected from the direct action of these hot gases by thevalve piston 13 and the sta tionary sleeve 12. This arrangement makes iteasy to keep the valve sleeve cool since it is in direct engagement withthe water cooled parts of the engine and also is cooled by the passageof the fuel charges through its ports 16. The valve pistons 13, byreason of their shape and size, are not so subject to the deterioratingeffects of high heat as are the sleeves 14, but their temperatures arekept reasonably low by reason of their outer ends being subject to theaction of the external air as represented in Fig. 1.

In order to operate the parts of the valves I have devised the mechanismthat I will now describe.

18 represents a shaft connected with crank shaft 6 through gearing 19that drives it at one-half crank shaft speed, and since this shaft willordinarily be disposed vertically just been named. Pitmen 23, 24 and 25are connected respectively with the wrist pins of the said-cranks. Thevalve pistons united so as to be operated in synchronism of the engineareby a rod 26, or a pair of such rods, which is the preferablearrangement as shown in Fig. 2, these rods bein connected with thepistons by yokes 27. he rods are parallel and on opposite sides of theengine. The pitman 25 is represented as being connected, y a pin 28,directly with the valve piston 13 of cylinder I and hence this valvepiston and that of cylinder IV receive their movements from the crank 22of the vertical Shaft 18.

Another pair of parallel rods 29 are united by yokes or cross bars 30with the valve pistons 13 of cylinders II and III and also with themovable sleeves 14 of the cylinders I and IV by yokes 31. The valvesleeve 14 of cylinder I is represented as being connected, by a pin 32,directly with the pitman 24, and hence it is that the series of valveparts just mentioned, to wit the valve pistons of cylinders II and IIIand the movable valve sleeves of pistons I and IV, are synchronouslyoperated by the crank 21 of the vertical shaft. The movable valvesleeves 14 of the cylinders II and III are united by parallel rods 33and yokes or cross bars 35.' A yoke 34 uniting the rods 33 at' theirends nearest the vertical shaft 18 has connection with the pitman 23, sothat these valve sleeves receive their movements from the crank 20. Thevarious moving parts of the valve apparatus are connected so as to havecommon movements as just described in order to simplify the apparatusand reduce the number of working parts and this is possible owing to thefact that in a multicylinder four-cycle engine at least two of thecylinders are always working with the difference of one-half cyclebetween them, and hence when the piston valve of one cylinder, number IVfor instance, is at its inner limit of stroke sealing the combustionchamber at the moment the fuel charge is ignited, the piston valve ofcylinder number I is at, its outer limit of stroke completely uncoveringthe ports 15. Now by arranging the valves just referred. to withreference to the combustion chambers 8 on opposite sides thereof thevalve pistons may move together and in the same direction and yet be ahalf cycle of operation apart in their functions and this is thearrangement represented. This particular arrangement is of advantagebecause it makes it convenient to leave open to the atmosphere the twostationary sleeves 12 of the cylinders I and IV'so that the pistons 13are subject to cooling by the atmosphere. The arrangement of valve partsis one which I prefer for a four-cycle four-cylinder engine, but istypical; as it is apparent from the disclosure that for a six or morecylinder engine other arrangements for connecting and driving the valveparts will be used to suit the movements of the engine pistons and valveparts of the respective cylinders. Thus in Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown anarrangement for a sixmove freely from inlet ports to the combus tionchamber and from the latter to the exhaust with very little change indirection.

In an arrangement such as shown it is not.

necessary to provide the moving valve sleeve 14 with packin rings sincethis sleeve is never subjected directly to the heat and pressure fromthe working cylinder of the engine. The moving parts of the valve deviceare few in number and small so that the weight of the parts moved islittle, while the construction is such that they may be cheaplymanufactured and easily assembled. A large port area and positiveopening of the valves is secured regardless of engine speed, and theseadvantages are attained without use of springs.

In connection with the valve of cylinder- IV, Figs. 1 and 2, I haveshown means for balancing the valve piston 13 and for also varying thesize of the explosion chamber 8 in order that the degree of compressionmay be varied. These features are shown in connection only with thevalve of cylinder IV to save the duplication of many of the parts in themaking of the drawing; but it should be understood that these features,which are about to be described, are, when used at all, employed inconnection with each cylinder.

36 is a piston movable in a cylinder 37. This piston is preferably ofthe size of valve piston 13 and is arranged opposite thereto, that isdirectly across the combustion chamber therefrom, and has thesamecentral axis of movement as does the 'valve piston 13. It isconnected with the valve piston so as to move therewith. 38 is a crossbar seated in the piston 36 and extending outward through the cylinderhead to the opposite sides of the engine, where its opposite ends haveengagement with the screw threaded parts 39 of rotatable shafts 42. Theshafts 42 are seated in bearings 43, 43, secured fast to the rods 26through which thevalve piston 13 is moved. While the shafts are free torotate in their bearings they cannot move longitudinally therein andhence it follows that any longitudinal movements given to the valvepiston 13 are likewise given to the piston 36 through the train ofconnecting parts that have been described. It is apparent that, sincethe pistons are opposite each other, equal pressures in oppositedirections from the explosion chamber are transmitted through surfacesof equal area to the rods 26, and hence there will be no strains uponthe crank 22 due to the varying pressures in the engine cylinder. Thisfeature is of particular advantage in those engines Where the area ofthe end of the valve piston 13 is large.

I utilize the piston 36 also as a means by which the capacity of thefiring chamber 8 may be varied in order that the degree of compressionmay be changed as circumstances dictate. It is well known that when aninternal combustion motor is throttled it works on low compression dueto the small volume of the explosive charge, and as an engine of thiskind has less efliciency vvhen compression is low, and as many of suchengines run most of the time throttled, it is of advantage to be able tovary the size of the explosion chamber to vary the compression as may bedesired.

In the arrangement shown in F ig. Q the rotary shafts 42 carry gearpinions 40 secured fast thereto, and with thesemesh a gear wheel 41. Byturning the gear wheel 41 the shafts 42 are rotated and, they, throughtheir screw thread connections with the cross bar 38 operate to shiftthe piston 36 either toward or from the piston 13, thus diminishing orenlarging the capacity of the firing chamber 8. The shaft on which thewheel 41 is mounted is provided with an end adapted to receive a crank43 or other means by which it maybe manually turned to effect thedesired permanent adjustment of the piston 36 with reference to piston13. In order to secure an automatic adjustment or variation of thecapacity of the explosion chamber, reducing its size when the engine isthrottled and enlarging it when full fuel charges are being delivered, Iprovide the wheel 41 with a crank 44 to which is connected a pitman 45,having pivotal connection with a lever 46, that in turn is connectedwith a rod 47 from the manually? controlled throttle ofthe engine.-Through the train of mechanism described the piston will be movedwhenever the engine throttle is changed and thus the capacity of theexplosion chamberLS automatically varied to suit the volume of the fuelcharge.

The latter result may be obtained by other means than those shown, forinstance by the mechanism illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, where a typicalarrangement for use in a single cylinder engine is shown. In this viewthe same reference numerals as are used in the other views are appliedto designate corresponding parts with the addition thereto of exponents.In this view the shaft 18 has fixed to it a crank 21 the pin of which isradially adjustable in order that the throw of the crank may beincreased or diminished at will. This orank' is represented as beingconnected directly with the valve piston 13' through a pitman 25. Acollar 43" is keyed to the shaft 18, but free to move longitudinallythereon under .the influence'of a manually controlled lever 45. Thecollar is connected with the crank pin 21 b toggle link 44. The crankpin is mova 1c in a radial slot 46 formed in a disk or wheel 48 on theshaft 18. By moving the free end of the lever) 45 to the left asrepresented in Fig. 8 the collar 43 is slid upon the shaft 18 toward thedisk 48, and

thus by reason of the toggle connection bemoment the fuel charge isignited. It will be understood that after adjustment of the valve pistonas just described it is reciprocated by the rotation of the shaft 18 andthe parts of the valve function as do the corresponding parts of thevalve shown in the other views. The adjustment of the valve piston 13 toeffect a change in the capacity of the combustion chamber does notpractically affect the timing of the valve, as the time at which thepiston uncovers the intake and exhaust ports, 15 and 15 affected by thestroke length.

The means for working the valve sleeve 14 in the arrangement of Figs. 7and S are not shown since this view, as has been stated, is largelytypical, no attempt. being made to is but little represent all thedetails of the valve apparatus.

I claim: 1. In a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine 'in whichthe cylinders are in line with each other side by side, heads for the-engine-cylinders each having inlet and exhaust connections, "andstationary sleeves in line with each other and parallel with the engineshaft, said stationary sleeves communicating interiorly with theirrespective engine cylinders and they being perforated to permit passageof the inlet and exhaust vapors and gases, a valve piston movable ineach stationary sleeve arranged to cover and uncover theopeningstherethrough, a movable valve sleeve outside each stationarysleeve arranged to control the inlet and exhaust for its particularengine cylinder, 3.

single operating shaft at the end of the line of cylinders andconnections between such shaft and the several valve elements by whichthey are operated according to the working cycle of the engine.

2. A valve arrangement such as described in claim 1 in which those valveelements that move in synchronism are coupled together and have a commonconnection with the operating shaft,

3. In a four-cylinder four-cycle internal combustion engine in which thecylinders are in line with each other side by side,a series ofstationary sleeves, one for each cylinder,

opening thereto, and axially in line with each other, these sleeveshaving through driving connections between the said shaft them openingsand. bein surrounded by spaces, valve pistons, one in eachstationarysleeve arranged to coverand uncover the openings-through thesleeve as the pistons are moved, movable valve sleeves, one for eachcylinder, located in the spaces surrounding the stationary sleevesarranged to control and direct the inlet to and the exhaust from thecylinders, means for coupling together in groups those valve el'e ments,meaning pistons and sleeves, that .are moved in synchronism and in thesame direction, a shaft at the end of the engine driven at one-halfcrank shaft speed and cylinder, of a stationary sleeve open to theengine cylinder and perforated to permit the passage of vapors and gasesto and from the engine cylinder, apiston operating in the said sleeve tocontrol the perforation therein and co-operating with the said valvedevices, another piston arranged directly opposite to the valve pistonand means for connecting the pistons together and operating them so theywill movein the same direction whereby the valve is balanced.

5. In a valvearrangement such as described in claim 4 means foradjusting the said opposite pistons toward and from each other wherebythe capacity of the combustion chamber of the engine may be varied inorder to change the degree of compression therein.

' I JOHN MAXWELL WILLIAMS. JR-

